Lala's Cure Milky costume does have the eccentric vibes - right legging off and left legging on (an asymmetry not unlike Pippi Lângstrump's odd stockings), as well as those breeches puffier than any Shakespearean thespian's, and transparent puffy sleeves!
Along the way as she adjusts to life as a suburban Japanese Earthling in secondary school, Lala, now muggle-surnamed Hagoromo and empowered with the power of the Milky Way, meets other three girls of various backgrounds, whom she scouts for her crusade... Whilst Lala is thirteen years old in Earth years, and treated as an adult on her home planet, leading to intense culture shock. She ends up travelling to Earth in search of more legendary warriors; she has a strong sense of responsibility, but occasionally makes mistakes and is rather dense at times. She also has antennae on her head, and may be obliged to conceal them as part of her Earthling façade...
Taa... taa... taaaaa... TA-TAAAAA!! (Also Sprach Zarathustra)
Following that, Lala and company work to collect all the Pens and raise their fluffy pet Fuwa, who is, herself, the key to reviving the princesses.
Left to right: Lala-Cure Milky, Fuwa, Hikaru-Cure Star, Elena-Soleil, Madoka-Selene (somethimes I have this perk to always put "Cure" before the ones whose heroic identity names are in English, and often omit that "Cure" prefix if their heroic identity names come from other languages -here, French and Greek respectively!-.)
Far away from Earth is a plane called the "Starry Sky World" and in the center of it is a holy ground called the "Star Palace", which contains the "12 Star Princesses of Constellations" who protect the balance of the whole universe...
But one day, someone attacked and the princesses turned themselves into "12 Princess Star Colour Pens" and scattered themselves across the universe!
If this situation continues, the stars will disappears, meaning Earth and the whole universe will be swallowed by darkness...!
But one day, someone attacked and the princesses turned themselves into "12 Princess Star Colour Pens" and scattered themselves across the universe!
If this situation continues, the stars will disappears, meaning Earth and the whole universe will be swallowed by darkness...!
"When the stars' light are lost, the legendary warriors or Pretty Cures will rise together with the Twinkle Book in hand to regain the brilliance again."
Lala says she is searching for the Pretty Cures along with her pet Fuwa in hope that the legend the princesses conveyed will make the universe go back to how it was before.
Lala says she is searching for the Pretty Cures along with her pet Fuwa in hope that the legend the princesses conveyed will make the universe go back to how it was before.
But then a Knot Raider who wishes to control the universe appeared and attacked Fuwa...
Now they all have to collect the scattered Princess Star Colour Pens and have Fuwa grow up, which is the key to the Princesses' resurrection
Alright, time to leave Earth and jump into space~☆
The transformation trinket Pendant has the symbols of all 12 Zodiac...
Now when was the last time I saw a pendant as a transformation trinket for magical girl warriors? Ah, the Heart of Kandrakar from W.I.T.C.H., a spaghetti animesque of last decade!
Precures have had perfume bottles, brooches, smartphones, makeup compacts... this is the very first time I see a pendant as a transformation trinket in this franchise!
And now my assessment of Soleil's costume: on one hand, her boots look pretty Texan or Gaucha - but on the other, she is wearing a dress like a FLAMENCA... (and asking for a tablao and a pair of castanets)! Let's keep our fingers crossed for Elena and her family to be Spaniards and NOT Latinos! Elena, our Cure Soleil, is a third year secondary school student with a radiant smile. The most popular girl at her school, she is known as the school’s “sun”, and as the "sun" of her whole hometown of Mihoshi (just like Courfeyrac, she must be regarded as the core of her human star system due to her charisma). Elena lives at a flower shop on Mihoshi High Street, the family business Sonrisa, where she sometimes works on top of often looking after, taking care of, her six younger siblings when her parents are busy working behind the counter.
The first news - we're gonna get a SPANISH CURE (hopefully, fingers crossed for her not to be a Latina!) who is a LEAD instead of a secondary character! And, furthermore, instead of being based upon bloodsports like Cure Matador (ewwrg - only cows ought to like bulls!), she will fittingly represent the CLIMATE of this land, having THE POWER OF THE HOT SUN on her side! She's a dark-skinned blonde to signify suntan along with foreignness and Caucasian ancestry, right? Cure Soleil's real or muggle name, moreover, is the same as mine as mum's first name and my own middle name, fittingly since Elena means "shining bright as the sun (or a beacon, depending on whom you ask)" and she is solar-powered - but unlike my mother and Yours Truly, both only children, this Elena is the firstborn of a numerous set of seven siblings. Their family business is a flower and plant shop called Sonrisa (meaning Smile), which furthermore gives a clue about their origin -- the only thing that worries me is that our dark-skinned sunny blonde and her family might turn out to be Latinos instead of Spaniards... Nous verrons, nous verrons!
I just adore Selene's costume and the details being both lunar (that moon beret, not unlike Cure Macaron's but lunar instead of macaron-shaped) and wintry (those ice crystals on her garters and choker), since frost is frozen dew all along. The puffy sleeves, choker, garters, and petticoats all make her look like a royal, giving her a regal air befitting the ojou, or little miss, of this continuity... Madoka Kaguya/Cure Selene, a well-mannered third year secondary school student who does her best to be properly ladylike. Her father works in the government as some kind of official (most likely member of parliament for some right-wing party), whilst her mother is a world-famous concert pianist. Madoka holds national championship titles in piano and archery. She also partakes in ikebana (flower arrangement) and tea ceremony, and gets excellent grades. Her skills are playing the piano and archery, in which she has won their respective national competitions, as well as having good grades all round and being popular for her ikebana and being great at tea ceremonies. She is the student council president, and also known as the “moon” of the school and of Mihoshi town (it will be left to see whether her fanbase and Elena's are just coexisting, like Yukari's and Akira's, or locked in a bitter feud...).
The second news - the ojou of this continuity, the lilac-hair lunar Cure Selene, has a dad in Parliament and a mum in classical music! Most often ojous had either a trophy husband father, a trophy wife mother, or both parents (ie the Kaidos or the Aisakis) as wealthy entrepreneurs... while there are other ways to be upper-class, like politics or highbrow performance. And Madoka's parentage has given us BOTH of them at one fell swoop! A man of state and a virtuosa concert pianist... She seems to combine both the ideals of an Eastern (ie Yukari Kotozume) and Western (ie Alice Yotsuba or Minami Kaido) ojou, but we are not sure if this characterisation will be more Eurasian in equal parts, or lean towards either one of both cultures (being surnamed after the moon princess in the fairytale already hints at less Euro and more Asian, right?).
I guess Lala being an alien is pretty unique, too.
With the basic information we have about each of the characters now, if you asked me to pick a favourite I’d probably have to go with Cure Selene. I just really like the purple cures – Macaron and Amour for example. I adore that there are nods to Macaron-Yukari in her battle costume (beret, petticoats, garters)...
The third news and the ICING ON THE CAKE - the new bonus powers will be WESTERN ZODIAC-themed, the sealed good in a can turned gotta-catch-them-all plot voucher power objects, ie collectible items, being twelve in number and linked to the starry skies, more precisely to female characters that personify the signs (think female, iridescent Gold Saints)! Hitherto there had been several fanmade Western Zodiac-themed Precure continuities, but this is when they've turned it into CANON!! SQUEEEEE!! The collectibles are based off the zodiac. Meaning that the princesses the cures need to save are based off them too.
- Gotta Catch 'Em All: The girls have to collect the twelve Star Colour Pens to free the twelve princesses trapped inside of them.
- The Stars Are Going Out: What apparently will happen to all the stars in the universe if the Star Colour Pens are all twelve not collected in time and is what the girls have to prevent from happening.
Pressure
Pressure is a constant factor of life, be it the pressures of biological functions, social structures or the laws of nature that threaten to rip oneself apart.
Physically: Affecting physical forces that exert themselves upon objects, which can include friction, gravity, falling velocity.
Conceptually: Affecting persuasion or coercion, making an idea or emotion be forced to the surface.So it's a two-edged weapon, which gives the user even command over such forces as Newton's laws and free will. Maybe even entropy itself... Oh. Let's go back to Star Twinkle, shall we? All that jazz about the Opus of Pressure was my inner Ravenclaw going ga-ga about all the possibilities thereof!)
But the most likely use for Aquarius powers would be maybe ice, lightning, or skill in savate -which could also go to Pisces!- So the powers from the various plot coupons are most likely to be:
- Aries: wildfire firebending, explosions, natural helmet for head protection
- Taurus: controlling plants, earthbending, enthralling scent of roses or vanilla, enthralling singing voice
- Gemini: Doppelgänger Spin (AKA double-team), enhanced speed (it can enable a Doppelgänger Spin), flying short distances, ambidexterity (REAL ambidexterity: think Kevin in ASoUE or Gilliatt in Les Travailleurs de la mer), telepathy
- Cancer: lunacy, waterbending, protective torso armour
- Leo: lightbending, lightning, heat enhancement, glamour (to be perceived as someone even more alluring by others)
- Virgo: enhanced senses, lie detection, invisibility, fading into the background
- Libra: telekinesis, gravity mastery, happiness inducement, optimism inducement,
- Scorpio: enhanced stealth, enhanced senses, telepathy, glamour
- Sagittarius: enhanced marksmanship, enhanced speed, flying long distances, telekinesis, enhanced sense of orientation
- Capricorn: earthbending, rockbending, enhanced skill in parkour
- Aquarius: icebending, lightning, gravity mastery, enhanced skill in savate (less likely: pressure)
- Pisces: realistic illusion (think Rena Rouge), enhanced skill in savate, waterbending
(Note: these guesses are based on what I know about the various archetypes of the Western zodiac!)
STAR PRINCESSES
12 Princesses that protect the balance of the Universe, before they are attacked and each one turns into a pen. They're based on 12 zodiacs.
12 Princesses that protect the balance of the Universe, before they are attacked and each one turns into a pen. They're based on 12 zodiacs.
Here are my guesses on their powers, based upon their hairstyles and costumes:
- Aries: redhead, DEFINITELY fire powers
- Taurus: rosehead, most likely with enthralling rose-scent powers
- Gemini: teal identical twins, most likely with Doppelgänger Spin powers (could also bestow ambidexterity?)
- Cancer: romantic-looking, girly greenhead (lunacy?)
- Leo: regal, crowned cyanhead with an 80s mane - ie AOI F-ING TATEGAMI?! (They could retcon her to be cusp-born, with both Leo and Virgo attributes!) - powers most likely to be light manipulation and glamour
- Virgo: angelic light-pink rosehead, most likely lie detection (maybe also enhanced senses?)
- Libra: blonde who looks like Urara Kasugano, holding two soaring astral drops - DEFINITELY telekinesis
- Scorpio: Titian-haired, mysterious, turns her back to the viewer (and those sultry bare shoulderblades...) - most likely enhanced stealth and-or a dark glamour (to contrast Leo's light glamour)
- Sagittarius: lilac-haired markswoman with bow, mauve rose in her head makes her resemble Milky Rose; bares her midriff and wears bandages to protect her arms -already signs of someone adventurous - most likely enhanced marksmanship (maybe also enhanced sense of orientation)?
- Capricorn: fuchsia rosehead, holding heart in her hands and hearts for earrings (emotional control, when Capris are the ones in the zodiac least known for being emotional? Sounds like irony... right?)
- Aquarius: Prussian blüe (as expected by Yours Truly) with long flowing hair (looks like Reira Yakushiji) holding an urn with shooting stars - most likely ice powers (LET IT GO, LET IT GO... *****)
- Pisces: rosehead mermaid wearing a lot of pearls and corals and seashells - most likely the powers of turning into a merperson form (think Diluvian Forms in Siren the Drowning), waterbending, and realistic illusion
Since there are four Cures, there surely will be a ratio of three pens per shero. And maybe elemental affiliations linked to that. I can totally see Elena as the fire girl, obviously, but the other three? Madoka can be water (as foil to Elena) or air (as the Ace du jour)... she's a perfect hatstall for Ravenclaw or Slytherin (I know some perfectly decent Slyths, both real-life and fictional, and I rec this essay in defense of their values!). Ditto our cyan-haired humanoid alien Lala! Although now I realise that Lala is more likely to have air powers for being the eccentric and the one who knows all the lore (and besides I lean more towards sorting Madoka as a Slyth!).
As for Ophiuchus, either the adult Fuwa or the leader of the Knot Raiders could represent the thirteenth sign... Nous verrons, nous verrons!
What will THE CADRES or GENERALS look like? It seems we're in for a surprise about these Knot Raiders until the première, as most usually. The villains and side characters hopefully are interesting enough like Hugtto... But I definitely wish that we once more got The Heartless instead of Monsters of the Object (even though we just had TWO continuities which employed a Heartless of the Week); there is so much more to it when you have to confront a person's negative emotions, there are much higher stakes then that if you are trying to purify a teapot or a loudspeaker or a pair of scissors... and also because all people have negative emotions (or at least anger, passion, anxiety, impatience, disappointment...), meaning that every and any muggle, from a complete stranger to a friend or even a parent, is likely to get targeted...
I also expect Mihoshi to be a quaint, country-esque, provincial-European town with a horizontal skyline, just like Ichigozaka (or Goldkrone in Princess Tutu) - that's the rare kind of community of adventure that very rarely pops up in magical girl warrior series, but I very much prefer eaves and shingles to highrises. Just like the Knot Raiders, the setting is still something that will remain a mystery until the première of the show, right?
On the shipping front... They don’t have to give us any girls' love – I’m not expecting anything, but I am certainly hoping for it.
If we do get yuri, I’m predicting Cure Star x Cure Milky and Soleil x Selene as the ships. I feel like the latter may be more likely, particularly with Elena and Madoka being the sun and moon of their school respectively (assuming they attend the same school).
To cap off all this information, Star ☆ Twinkle will start airing on the 3rd of February 2019. We will have to wait a month, during which we will be entertained with the finale to Hugtto!...
I’m looking forward to Star ☆ Twinkle, but it has a very tough act to follow. If it doesn’t end up being as good as Hugtto!, that’s fine – in fact, I kind of expect that to be the case, since it isn’t really celebrating any milestones. I suspect it will still be fun to watch, though.
The transformation item looked like a quill pen and a pendant so if you lose one of it which I am guessing is the pen, you are screwed.
Star Twinkle has a lot to live up to since Hugtto has outdone and improved many of the Precures clichés. The villains and side characters hopefully are interesting enough like Hugtto and a plot that doesn't involve time travel.
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